In 3G (3rd generation) wireless systems (i.e., cdma2000: 3G 1X, 1X-EV-DO, etc.), call settings such as the target frame error rate (FER) for the supplemental channel (SCH) can impact user throughput and overall system throughput. In contrast to voice calls, the traffic generated by packet data calls (e.g., web browsing, email downloading, etc.) is very bursty and highly varying, with small durations of high traffic separated by larger durations of little or no traffic. There are a growing number of applications using the SCH air-interface to provide service to wireless clients. Some of these applications can tolerate a higher radio link protocol (RLP) abort rate than others, and thus a higher FER than others. Accordingly, it is a poor means of utilizing system capacity to have static SCH FER settings for data calls when different types of application traffic are present.
In many existing implementations, the target SCH FER is statically set to 5% for all types of data calls. Simultaneously, there may be users running applications not requiring a 5% FER, who could afford a higher FER, while others requiring a FER less than 5%. Lab results show that if the target SCH FER is set too low, user throughput increases to nearly the physical layer throughput. However, this comes at the cost of a high traffic channel gain, or a larger share of base station power. As a result, fewer users can be served. In contrast, a higher FER requires a lower traffic channel gain and a correspondingly smaller share of the base station power, allowing more users to be served simultaneously. However, if the target SCH FER is set too high, user throughput drops due to the increased number of retransmissions. Moreover, the increased number of retransmissions can result in increased user delay.
Therefore, a need exists for an apparatus and method for dynamically managing wireless call settings to more optimally utilize system capacity.